Where's Lucy?
by boshrocks
Summary: LWW Lucy goes for a walk and doesn't come back. And who's this new woman that Peter finds in the woods? Better than it sounds, I promice. please review
1. Who is she?

Edmund sighed as he sat in his throne. He did so because his younger sister Lucy was bothering him.

They have all grown up a bit but Lucy hadn't. She was now 14 and should have been very mature by now but she wasn't.

She may as well have been 9 years old again, the very age she was when she had come through the wardrobe for the first time. She hadn't changed a bit. Oh yes, she'd grown taller and was very sweet in her appearance, but she still looked like she was that little girl who had annoyed him for years.

She didn't act very differently either.

Peter and Susan hadn't seemed to have noticed her lack of aging.

"Oh Lu, what will we do with you?" Edmund asked himself as he saw her running around outside with her friend Tumnus the faun.

Peter entered the throne room and chuckled to see his younger brother looking so pensive.

"So, King Edmund the Just, what is troubling you this time? Are we once again at war in the north? Or do they want to give us a change and send us to war in the south?"

"Hello Peter. No we aren't at war, for once."

"So what's up then?" Peter sat himself in his throne and turned tired eyes at Edmund.

"It's Lucy. Haven't you noticed how little she's changed since we've been here? We've all grown up and matured accordingly, but she hasn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take Susan for example, since we came here she has matured and grown up to be so beautiful that we have to beat the suitors away with a sharp stick. And you, before we defeated Jadis and her army you were just on the threshold of manhood and now you really are King Peter the Magnificent."

"And you have outshone any scholar in the land in wisdom and if you tried hard you could beat me in combat. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to see off your own suitors before long."

"Cheers mate! But I can't help noticing that Lucy has not changed. Not in all the years we've been in Narnia. Even with all my years of study I still cannot understand why that is."

"I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Again. If Lucy is a little underdeveloped then all we can do is wait until she turns out a young woman. Where is she now?"

Edmund pointed outside and Peter saw her jumping around in the sun and then she fell over and Tumnus helped her up.

Edmund went outside to see if she was alright.

"You okay, Lu?"

"I'm fine, a little tired."

"I'm not surprised. You're rooms are next to mine and I heard you bouncing around the room in the early hours of the morning."

"What were you doing up that late, Ed?" Susan asked from the bench where she was reading in the sunlight.

"I was reading a new dissertation that had just come through. It's rather think and I thought I should get started as soon as I could."

"Ed, could you help me to my room please? I think I need to lie down a bit."

"Of course. Here take my arm."

He led her into the castle and made sure she was comfortable in her room before going back to the courtyard and sitting next to Susan. He lay down and put his head in her lap.

"Hello? What's this?" Susan asked looking underneath her book and into his smiling face.

He shrugged in answer to her question and she gave him a reproachful look.

"Don't do that Ed, it hurts my leg." She said softly, although she made no move to get him to shift his body.

"Read to me a bit. I'm tired and I like hearing you read aloud."

She read to him for about half an hour and although he had already read this book he enjoyed it because Susan had a nice voice that highlighted all the good phrases and he looked at her face when she came to a funny bit and it fairly lit up with joy and surprise.

Peter came out and looked at them before he decided to go for a ride in the woods.

Lucy then appeared after a nap, which seemed to have refreshed her wonderfully.

"Lu! How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks Ed. I think I'll go for a walk in the woods. It's so nice out."

"Do you want me to escort you?" Edmund asked with a worried look on his face.

"There's no need for that. I can make my way through the woods without any help from the brave warrior. Besides I have my dagger." The small dagger Lucy had received from Father Christmas before the battle against Jadis was a standing joke between the siblings. Though sharp the dagger was so small that you'd have to be nose to nose with your enemy before you could do any damage.

The siblings shared a laugh and Lucy departed.

She didn't appear at dinner that night and Edmund got rather worried. Not only was Lucy missing but Peter was too.

As they were finishing they heard the clatter of hooves in the courtyard and the pair rushed out to see who it was.

Peter was there on his large white horse and sitting in front of him was a beautiful young woman.

"Peter! We were getting worried about you." Susan said looking highly relieved to see him in one piece.

"Who have you found?"

"She was in trouble and I felt compelled to get her out of it."

"You really do have a hero complex, don't you Peter?" Edmund teased gently.

"Shut up! Look at the state of her! I couldn't leave her in the woods. She hasn't said a word."

"Shock?"

"I'm not sure. Susan will you see to her and make her welcome here, at least until she recovers and we work out where she comes from. Ed, will you try and get her to talk, it would help us a lot if we knew a bit about her."

Edmund helped her down from the horse and was surprised to see that there wasn't an awful lot to her.

Susan held out her hand and the woman hesitantly took it and Susan live up to her namesake and gently led her inside.

Edmund looked at Peter and Peter started to dismount.

"Wait! Don't dismount yet. Let me get Phillip and I want you to take me to where you found her. We might find out something about her if I can see the place where you found her."

Within ten minutes they were riding through the woods. They came to a clearing in the darkening woods.

Edmund dismounted and lit a torch.

"What can you find Ed?"

"Patience Peter!"

"My head may be telling me to have patience but my stomach is refusing all commands! If I don't get some food right now then there will be hell to pay!"

Edmund made an exasperated sound in the back of his throat and tying Phillip's reins to a tree went behind it and a moment later an apple flew out and hit Peter squarely in the chest.

"Ow!"

"You asked for it! Now shush! I'm investigating."

"Hurry up!"

Edmund ignored him and continued to snoop around.

Eventually Peter got so bored that he trusted Edmund to get himself home and he left to answer the calls of his stomach.

Edmund heard him leaving and turned back to the pile of clothes he had found under a bush.

It was a dress that he recognized from somewhere. Maybe he had seen one of the nymph maidens in wearing it.

As he picked it up something fell from within them.

It was Lucy's dagger.


	2. A fight

"So who do you think she is then?" Edmund asked Peter a few days later as they saw Susan plaiting the girl's hair in the morning sunlight.

"I have no idea. But there is something strangely familiar about her, don't you think?"

"Yes, I thought so too."

"What did your examination prove?"

"She doesn't seem to be in shock and yet her voice still hasn't come back. When I searched the clearing where you found her I found nothing but an old dress." Edmund thought it wasn't safe to tell him about Lucy's dagger just yet. He would get worried and then call out a search party.

As much as Edmund wanted his younger sister to come back safely and in one piece, he had a feeling that she would turn up eventually. Maybe she didn't want to be found.

"You'd better go inside, Peter. There's another delegation for Susan's hand in marriage and you have more authority over them to tell them to sod off than I do."

"Not another one! How many is this now?" Peter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fourth one in two weeks. We have to do something. They just keep coming. I don't know how long we can fend them off. At the rate they're coming, we'll have to do the usual thing in these circumstances."

"And what's that, Ed?"

"Lock her in a very high tower guarded by a fire breathing dragon. Standard procedure."

Peter chuckled and waving a "see you later" to Edmund walked off back into the castle.

Edmund stood there and taking Lucy's dagger out of his pocket stared hard at it. There had been no sign of a struggle in the clearing and the dagger didn't look like it had been used in a fight. There were no nicks in the blade and no dirt covered either the sheath or dagger itself. So whatever had happened, it didn't look like Lucy had got into a fight and fled.

The girl noticed the flash of the blade and looked over to meet his gaze as he pondered a) who she was, and b) where Lucy had gone.

Edmund thought he could see a flash of fear cross her eyes as she saw the unsheathed dagger. He took this to mean that she was scared that he might kill her with it so he re-sheathed the dagger and put it back into his pocket.

That was the thing with this mystery girl. She was always scared. You hardly dared to make a sudden movement around her. Her eyes were always wide and scared and she moved in a jerky manner.

He saw Susan finish plaiting her hair and the girl turned to smile at Susan. It struck Edmund how pretty she was. Like that with the sunlight streaming through her hair and her face alight with joy, she was ethereally beautiful. It struck him that she might be an elven maiden, but that was silly, he knew. The elves wouldn't come anywhere near Narnia.

He stared at her and then noticed Peter standing on the other side of the courtyard, also staring at her. Great, just great.

He had competition.

What was even worse was that it was Peter.

It wasn't fair. Peter always got everything, who was to stop him getting this girl too?

"Peter." He called. "I see you've seen off the delegation in time." He said as he sauntered across the courtyard to stand next to his brother.

When Peter ignored him he got very annoyed.

"Like what you see?" he sneered prodding Peter in the arm.

Peter may not have heard him, but he sure as hell felt the poke.

"Why'd you poke me?"

"Because you were being a prat and not listening to me. How did you get rid of the delegation, then?"

"Told them that if they didn't remove their large asses out of my castle and country then I would have to kick them out using the blunt edge of my sword."

"I'm guessing in not so many words."

"What do you think? Would I really tell anyone that?"

"No, you're a politician."

"I am not a bloody politician! Just because I'm the High King and you're not it doesn't give you the right to call me a politician. They're sleazes anyway, and I am most certainly not one. You're really pathetic, do you know that?"

"Oi…shut up! I'm a king too, just 'cos you're the oldest doesn't mean you have the authority over me!"

"I so do!"

"Now, now boys! Stop arguing! You two are the kings of the realm and you shouldn't be fighting each other. If you must fight then go to the training ground and physically fight it out." Susan said coming over to them with the girl in tow. "Ed, why don't you take her and see if you can't find a way to make her talk? I have a few things to discuss with Peter."

Edmund offered her his hand and led her off to the library.

Susan turned to Peter. She looked cross.

"I was watching you, just now. Before you started fighting. You were both staring at her. I know those looks, Pete, and I don't know what may happen if you both fall for her. We do not know anything about her, and for all we know she could be a remnant of the White Witch's army bent on murdering us. And she might already have got Lucy. There's still no word from her?"

"Absolutely none. But she's a tough girl; she can take care of herself. And as to Ed, the girl and myself, don't worry. As long as Ed knows that I'm interested in her he won't attempt to make a move on her. And I won't either. You shouldn't worry as much about us, we can take care of ourselves."

"I know, I just wish Aslan were here to help us. Things always seem to go better whenever he's around. See you later, Peter, I have to finalise some plans for a…meeting I'm hosting."

"A meeting? Do I have to go?"

"It would be better if you weren't there."

Susan walked gracefully into the castle leaving Peter looking very confused.

"Well, keep your secrets then." He said to himself. "See if I care. Ed better not try anything on her. If he does I will kill him. Not for the reasons Susan wants to believe, but because I want her all to myself."


	3. Discovery

Edmund was walking down one of the corridors not paying attention particularly when he collided with someone. It was the mystery girl.

She may have been there for a week but he still had made no headway in making her talk.

He stared at her because she was wearing one of Lucy's dresses. It suited her surprisingly well…too well. She looked like… Lucy. An idea hit him.

She smiled shyly at him and then walked away. He stared after her and then carried on as before.

And once again he walked into someone. This time it hurt because he had hit metal.

It was Peter, returning from a training practice. And he was wearing his armour. Therefore they collided with a clang.

"Hey Ed! You okay?"

"Just great." He replied sarcastically.

"How are we doing with our mystery girl? Can she talk yet?"

"No. And I'm getting incredibly worried about Lucy. Any word yet?"

"No. There's still no sign of her. Oh! There's a new commission for you in the great hall."

"I don't want to see them. I think I'll go for a ride. Get Susan to go see them."

"Edmund, you have to see them."

"No, you do it! You're the High King. You should deal with it."

"They're your commission. You should do it."

"Tough!" Edmund shouted as he ran off down the corridor.

Peter sighed and slowly counted the seconds to ten before looking out of the nearest window in time to see Edmund marching determinedly across the courtyard and out of the back door that led to the stables.

"He's still a child, despite all his pretending to be grown up."

"Who? Edmund?" Susan's voice said from next to him.

Peter turned and looked at his sister. She stood there serenely gazing out at the flock of seagulls that were currently flying over the castle.

"Have you managed to get our girl to speak? You see, Ed has failed to do it and I wondered if you had managed." He asked her studying her face.

"No I haven't. You haven't seen that new delegation have you, they want my hand in marriage again."

"Not another one. That's three this week! You're too beautiful for your own good you know. I think I will have to take up Ed's suggestion and lock you in that tower with a dragon to guard you."

"I'm not a fairy tale princess, Peter. We could always pretend I was already married in a secret ceremony to a mystery guy that no one knew about. That would keep them away."

"You've been reading romance novels again haven't you?"

Edmund meanwhile was riding along the beach. He was thinking. He thought he had worked out who the girl was and where Lucy was. All he had to do was to confirm it.

But how could he do that? The girl couldn't talk and therefore couldn't affirm his suspicions.

But for now he must talk to her again.

He wheeled Phillip around and they raced back to the castle.

He passed several windows inside the castle looking for the girl.

He saw her with Susan through a window that looked into the courtyard.

"Susan! Thank god I found you. Can I borrow your friend for a moment? I have a theory that might help us find out who she is."

"Certainly. Good luck."

Edmund led the girl into the library. He settled her into a soft armchair and took the chair across from her.

"Now I want you to nod or shake your head to the questions I am going to ask you. Answer me truthfully. Now, do you recognise this?" he pulled out Lucy's dagger.

She flinched and nodded.

"Did you find it in the woods?"

She shook her head.

"Did you see someone with it?"

Again she shook her head.

"It's yours, isn't it…Lucy?"

She smiled and slowly nodded.


	4. Plans

"Lucy, I still can't believe you turned out like that. But more than that I can't believe I nearly broke up with my brother over you."

Lucy looked at him and wrote a note on the piece of paper she had in front of her and handed it to Edmund.

"'Wouldn't be the fist time!' Hey! We've never broken up over you. Matters of state yes, you, never. Don't give me that look Lu."

Pause.

"Okay, almost. Since adult you has arrives we have barely spoken to each other. I pity Susan who has had the task of keeping the peace. If Peter and I do talk we fight. Do you reckon we should tell them about the fact that the mystery mute girl is Lucy who has somehow managed to grow up in an afternoon? Remind me to ask you how you did it. How am I going to tell them? Any ideas? Suggestions? Anything? So you still can't talk then? Are you under some sort of spell that makes you unable to talk? Nothing. Great. Just great."

Edmund rose from his seat and began pacing the room angrily.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Tumnus poked his horned head round the door.

"Excuse me, King Edmund, your sister would like to see you and if your mystery girl still has trouble talking I have a way that might work. I mean, it works on fawns. If a fawn is unwilling to talk there is a method of hypnotism which usually works. I was thinking that it might work on our girl here. Do I have your leave to try it?"

During his speech he had entered the room and was now standing somewhat nervously on the threshold.

"Of course. Where does Susan want me?"

"I believe she wishes to discuss something with you in her chambers, sire. I have taken the liberty of sending up some tea and cakes for your refreshment."

"Thank you Tumnus. Let me know how you get on with L-her."

Lucy had been scribbling something on the paper and now she rushed up to Edmund and shoved the paper into his hand. He left reading it as he went.

"What was that, Lucy?" Tumnus asked as he settled himself in one of the squashy armchairs by the fire.

"Instructions for him not to tell the others yet."

"Still haven't let them know that you actually can talk, then?"

"Of course not. I want to surprise them. What a prank this has been!"

"How are you going to explain how you aged?"

"Vanity. I have been growing up just as they have but when I got to the age of eleven I found that I had pimples. I found a way of repressing the growth so that it only came out at midnight and lasted three hours and then I could be safe from being found out."

"But now you have no pimples."

"No, but I couldn't find a way of revealing the change. This would be the best way."

"How have you managed to keep so quiet? Even you can't keep your mouth shut for a whole week."

"Easy. I learnt some magic from the sprites that live in the forest and therefore can cast a silencing spell on myself during the day. That is also how I managed to repress the grown up me."

"You really have thought all this out, haven't you?"

"Of course I have. I also have a way of keeping the suitors away from Susan…and myself once the others know its me and word gets out that Queen Lucy the Valiant has grown up at last."

"How will you do that?"

"Simple. A white flag with a black diamond on it hung from the castle battlements."

"What does that mean?"

"It means there's plague inside and it will ward off the ships bringing suitors."

"One problem. We don't get plague in Narnia. There is no sickness here, remember?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. Well then we could put a black flag up at half mast. Then they will know that one of the royals has died and know that it will be an inappropriate time to try and court the Queens and turn around and go home."

"Then the townsfolk will think that someone has died and one of you will never be able to leave the castle again."

"Oh." Lucy looked disheartened.

"Let your brothers deal with them. Tell me about your magic."

"It is both verbal and non-verbal. I know a lot of spells and can command the faeries in the woods. I also have some degree of power over the elements."

"Which ones?"

"Fire, water, ice, wind, storms and illusions. I still need to gain more control over them."

"Do you need a staff or anything to use the magic?"

"Yes. This one." She put a hand inside her robes and drew it out clenched into a fist.

She opened her palm and he saw a small piece of wood.

Suddenly it lengthened until it was almost as tall as she was.

It was a plain piece of wood, circular, straight and without a blemish in it.

"This is my magical staff and there is no limit to what I can do."

"Do you know who you sound like? You sound like Jadis."

"Jadis went wrong. I shall go right."


	5. Out Hunting

Another week passed. Edmund hadn't told his older siblings about Lucy and she was still not talking.

Peter declared a national holiday and he and his siblings went for a hunt in the woods. That included Lucy.

Somehow they managed to lose her.

It wasn't an accident, she had purposely wandered off.

They retraced their steps and eventually found her.

She was standing in the middle of a clearing with fairies dancing around her to the music which was eloping from her staff. She hadn't noticed their return. They hid behind trees on the edge of the clearing.

"That's right, dance for Lucy." They heard her saying softly to them.

"She can talk!" Edmund breathed.

"That's Lucy?" Peter hissed to his siblings.

"What, you don't think that's our Lucy do you?" Susan whispered to Peter.

"Sh! It is Lucy. I figured it out about a week ago. We agreed not to tell you yet. Now you know who the mystery girl is." Edmund hissed and then, motioning for the others to stay there, crept out from behind his tree.

The music stopped as soon as he stepped on a twig. The staff disappeared in an instant.

"Why didn't you tell me you could talk?" he asked her back.

She whipped around; the fairies flitted away amongst the trees.

"I was having too much fun. You struggled for ages on the mystery girl and I must admit I had fun watching the fights you had with Peter. I left you clues. The dagger was the most obvious one. Acting in the way young Lucy did with Susan was a more subtle one. Eating in precisely the same way as Lucy did was just as subtle. Wearing my dresses and showing myself to you in them. Displaying all of Lucy's little habits, like fiddling with my hair in the way your sister did. I expected you to work it out sooner than you did. Was I too subtle? Or maybe I misjudged your intelligence."

"Now you mention it I did notice your actions but they just didn't register until now."

"I have also worked out how we can keep Susan's admirers at bay possibly even get rid of them completely."

"I'm not killing any of them." Peter said as he and Susan emerged from their hiding places.

"You don't have to. Remember Queen Elizabeth the First of England? She refused to marry and said she was married to her kingdom, she wore a plain wedding ring on her engagement finger and no more suitors came to bother her. We do the same for Susan. We proclaim far and wide that she has married Narnia and insists that she remain celibate until further notice."

"I wish I'd thought of that."

"Well you didn't. Is it a good plan? Do we use it? Susan, it's your choice. Do you agree with that?"

"If it'll get rid of my suitors then I am over the moon that we found something. It's better than Ed's idea that we lock me in a tower under the guard of a dragon."

Lucy, to whom this theory had never been related to, put her head back and laughed.

"Are we going to catch that deer or not?" Edmund declared as he went to retrieve the horses and mounted his.

"We'll have lost him by now." Susan said logically.

"Wanna bet?" Lucy challenged her.

"It'll be on the other side of the forest by now. We'll never find it again."

"Pity, it was a good one too." Peter said forlornly.

"We can't let it escape us then. Come on."

"Lucy, we'll never catch up with it. Oh all right, let's go then."

Susan and Peter mounted up and followed Edmund out of the clearing.

"You will catch up with it if I have anything to do with it. Edna!" a fairy appeared before her, seated on her horse's ear. She was small and delicate, with a brown aura around her. She was a fairy of the animals. "I have a job for you. I want you to find that deer and lead it to where my siblings are. Can you do that for me?" Edna spoke a syllable and it sounded like the tinkling of wind chimes. "Fine when you return to Cair Paravel tonight you shall have some ambrosia. Sound like a fair deal to you?" Tinkle tinkle. "Good. Off you go then."

The fairy darted off and Lucy spoke again.

"Since my family are so far away, let me join them as soon as I may."

She and the horse vanished.


	6. A Call To Arms

Lucy never laughed or skipped anymore. Since her discovery she had become more and more solemn and so quiet that she barely spoke except to mutter over the book she was reading.

Each of her siblings had tried to liven her up a bit, but she didn't seem able to smile anymore. It was like a dark cloud had settled over her and no matter what anyone did or said she refused to come out of it.

Even Tumnus didn't know what was wrong with her.

She seemed as though she would just fade away.

One day she did. But she had been so quiet that her siblings didn't notice her absence.

After a few days Edmund noticed it and pointed it out to Peter who shrugged it off and told Edmund to stop being silly and help him plan the strategy for the impending battle that they were now faced with.

"Who are we fighting this time?" Edmund sighed.

"That's the thing, I don't know exactly who they are. All I know is they are growing in power in the shadows near what was once the frozen lake."

"Isn't that where Jadis' castle was?"

"You would know better than me. I only saw it from a distance. Besides it's not there anymore is it? I thought it melted."

"It's still there, just in ruins. You don't think Jadis has come back do you?" Edmund glanced up at his brother's worried face and read upon it that he feared it was."

"That is impossible my young Kings." A voice said behind them.

Turning they saw Aslan, the great lion, framed in the doorway.

"Edmund, you know that Jadis couldn't be alive. I defeated her in the battle."

"I didn't actually see her die though."

"I did, and it is not her. Instead it is someone you would not expect. Battles are ugly affairs. I do not wish to see another one so soon."

Peter turned to Susan who sat listening to this in an armchair by the fire.

"Battles are ugly affairs." They muttered together.

"Father Christmas said that to Lucy when he gave her the dagger. Why do you repeat it now, sir?"

"You shall see, Susan. In time all will be revealed. I shall return later in the week. By then you will know who you are dealing with."

With a swish of his tail he was gone.

"Why does Aslan always leave such cryptic clues? Why can't he just tell us who we're facing?" Edmund raged.

"Because he fears we would do something we would regret. Whatever we do gets taken onto his shoulders as well. If we do something terrible he feels the pain of it ten times on. Our enemy must be bad if he does not wish to tell us who they are."

"I think you're right Susan."

That evening at dinner Peter gave them terrible news.

"I have received a summons. We go to war in three days time. Susan I would prefer it if you didn't join us. Will you stay here and deal with the government of the rest of Narnia until we return?"

"Yes."

"I could do that."

"Nice try, Ed, but I need you by my side on the battlefield. If we only knew who we were facing this would be a hell of a lot easier."

Edmund went very quiet.

"I think I know who it is." He said quietly. "It's Lucy. You may laugh at it Peter, but think about it. Lucy has disappeared again, and Aslan said what Father Christmas said to her years ago. It's her. It's Lucy."

"What have I done this time?" Lucy's voice said from the doorway. "Sorry I'm late by the way. I got lost in a very good book."

"Ed thinks you are the enemy we will face on the battlefield in three days time."

Lucy took her place next to Edmund and smiled as though the thought greatly amused her.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, you've been so quiet lately, and Aslan's clues pointed to you. I'm sorry but it's the conclusion my mind came to."

The next morning at breakfast Susan came rushing into the hall looking very vexed.

"Lucy's not in her bed! I can't find her anywhere."

"Well, her horse is gone from the stables; she's probably out for a morning ride. She'll be back soon." Edmund said calmingly.

But Lucy didn't reappear.

Two days later they assembled on the battlefield they had been summoned to, but there was no sign of an enemy. The field was bare.

Peter and Edmund exchanged worried looks. This wasn't right.

Then something landed in front of Edmund's horse. One of the fawns handed it to him.

It was a dagger. It was Lucy's.


	7. A Dream?

Then something landed in front of Edmund's horse. One of the fawns handed it to him.

It was a dagger. It was Lucy's.

Silently he passed it to Peter who took it looking stony faced.

"Edmund was right. It is me!"

Suddenly the field was filled with another army. It was smaller than theirs but had several dragons in it.

And Lucy was standing on a rock at the head of the army.

"Lucy!" Peter shouted.

"Yes?"

Peter opened his eyes. He was lying flat on his back in the training ground. Edmund was standing nearby looking sheepish. Lucy was also nearby and was putting away her healing cordial. He closed his eyes again.

"Would someone care to tell me what happened?"

"I'm sorry Peter, we were training and I knocked you out by mistake."

"How the hell did you manage that, Ed?"

"We were training and you tripped, well, actually I tripped you up. You hit your head as you hit the floor."

"If I may ask, why did you shout my name when you woke up?" Lucy said looking confused."

"I had a dream about you, well all of us really. I'm not sure how much was a dream and which wasn't. Lucy, can you do magic?"

"Very badly, but yes, I can control some of the elements."

"And Ed, we didn't go to war against an unknown enemy who happened to be Lucy, did we?"

"Of course not."

"How long ago was the hunt where we found Lucy?"

"Which one? The one where we found mystery girl Lucy or the one where we found out she could talk?"

"Talking one."

"About four hours ago, actually. The kitchen are cooking that stag as we speak for the banquet tonight."

"Right. So I didn't miss much, then?" Peter rubbed his eyes and when his siblings asked him about the dream he told them.

"Well, there's no fear of me turning evil and acting like Jadis. None that's justified anyway. I want to use my magic for good not bad. If you like we can visit the site of Jadis' castle and see that there is nothing left." Lucy said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"And Aslan hasn't come to visit has he?"

"No. We haven't seen him in months."

"Okay then. Shall we get ready for the banquet then, since it must be getting late?" he suggested as his siblings hauled him back to his feet and steadied him.

"What's this banquet for anyway?" he asked as they walked into the castle.

"We are celebrating the anniversary of the victory over Jadis. You made the day a national holiday. Aslan might be dropping in so I want you on your best behaviour." Susan said meeting them at the door.

"Yes, mum." Edmund said cheekily, dodging the blows form all of his siblings.

"I see you haven't changed, Edmund!"

"Aslan!"

The girls rushed over and hugged him.

"Hello, my dear girls. It's good to see you again."

"How are you Aslan?"

"I am just fine Peter, thank you. I have some news for you. I am not the only one dropping in for the banquet. A large contingent of suitors are arriving as well."

"Oh no!" both the kings and queens moaned.

"I understand your annoyance but some of them may find your approval."

"You know what? I'm really warming up to the idea that you lock us in a dragon guarded tower for the rest of our lives." Susan said into Peter's shoulder where she had retreated at the news that lots of suitors were coming for her tonight. She often did for comfort and he offered it as best he could.

"If they are as bad as the last ones were then I will have no shame in cutting off their heads and displaying them in the docks so that the others get the message and sail away again." He said vehemently.

"May I join you in that?" Edmund said.

"I'll kill my own ones if they so much as look at me." Lucy said pulling out her staff.

"You don't mean that, my child." Aslan said glancing at the staff.

"Well, no, but I can make them really uncomfortable for the whole night."

"What would you do?" Susan asked looking out of her comfort shoulder.

"Well, for starters I would make them walk like penguins for the rest of the night. There's no end to the jokes you can play when you know magic. Peter, do I have your permission to play these pranks?"

"Only if they are hilarious and you let us know when one is being played. Oh and that you don't play them on us."

"Would I ever?"

The other three all gave her the look that said 'Of course you would, you're you!'

She giggled and hurried off to her room. Even with her door closed she heard their laughter.


	8. Preparations

As Lucy was in preparation for the banquet she was making plans for the next day. She knew what was there at Jadis's castle. After the battle she had gone to find what was left and all that was left was the floors, anything made of metal, Jadis's clothes and jewellery and her gorgeous throne. Somehow that hadn't melted.

Lucy thought she would take a cart up there and try and salvage what she could. That throne, for instance.

As she washed her face the doors of her chamber opened and Edmund walked in. he was all ready for the party and looked thoroughly bored. If he hadn't been her brother she would have shouted for him to get out, with good reason; she was dressed only in her under skirt and only had a light robe over the top half.

Edmund settled himself on her bed and asked her what pranks she was thinking of playing tonight.

"Nothing big. Just the usual making food disappear, making the seats move backwards when they're trying to sit down, that kind of thing. Oh and of course making their underpants wander somewhere it really shouldn't be."

"So you'll give them a wedgie?"

"You put it succinctly, Ed, as always. I need help picking out a dress, will you help me?"

"I'm no good for that kind of thing. Let's take a selection and go through to Susan's room."

"Okay. That one?"

"No. Far too low cut."

"What's wrong with that?"

"The first and cardinal rule for any prankster is to look really innocent. In that dress you look far from innocent."

"Have you ever seen me wear it?"

"Yes, you always ask my opinion on new dresses nowadays."

Peter came into the room, also completely ready for the party, and looking just as bored as Edmund did. He too flopped down on the bed and Lucy came and sat between them and handed Peter her hairbrush. For some bizarre reason he knew how to brush her hair exactly the way she liked it.

Edmund played with a few locks of her hair that wasn't being monopolised by Peter's brushing.

Susan put her head into the room. Unsurprisingly she was not in any way ready for the banquet.

"Still not ready Lucy?"

"You can't talk!"

"And the boys are still using you as their doll I see."

"Sue!"

"Are you here for a reason or are you here solely to annoy me?" Lucy said glaring at her sister and swatting Edmund away from her hair.

"Yes I came to ask a question. Are we wearing our proper coronets, the ones we got when we were crowned, or can we wear one that we want?"

"It doesn't really matter."

"Under normal circumstances no, but since this is the anniversary of the battle I think it would be proper to wear our official ones."

"You're just saying that, Peter, so you can wear your big gold one."

"Ed, all my crowns are made of gold. I am the High King."

"And I am High Queen, so I get to wear my gold one too."

"Before you go Sue, could you pick out a dress for Lucy? We're having trouble deciding."

"We wouldn't have any trouble if you weren't so fussy about what I wear Edmund."

"Lucy! Calmness. Come to my room for a second. I have just the thing. Our new dresses arrived today. Peter, would you go and check the menu for tonight and Ed, could you see to the place settings in the great hall? We'll be down as soon as we can."

The girls left and the boys stayed exactly where they were.

"Was she always this bossy?" Edmund asked looking over at his brother.

"Why are you asking me? She's your sister too."

"Yeah, but you've known her for longer."

"I should have seen that coming. Why do you have to remind me of my age?"

"Because you fall for it. And it's fun being the younger brother."

"You're not a child anymore." Peter studied Edmund's face, which had darkened considerably.

"You don't think I don't know that? You remind me often enough!" Edmund burst out.

"I know. I hate growing up as much as you do. I had to do it before all of you, well, maybe not Susan. She matured even before me."

"I think she matured even before granny did!"

"Have you noticed what she's like now though? She's like a young girl again." Peter started laughing and Edmund also started chuckling.

Susan had indeed been acting very strange all week. Aside from the whole mystery Lucy thing, she was acting very peculiarly. She sang when she sewed and sat on the old swing by the stables a lot. She spent a lot of time daydreaming and, as a consequence, she kept bumping into things, people mostly.

"I haven't seen her like this since she got a crush on my friend back in London." Peter said through his laughter.

"I bet that's it! I'll bet you anything that she's in love!" Edmund clicked his fingers in annoyance that he hadn't realised it before.

"What do you bet me?"

Edmund seemed to come out of his reverie.

"Alright I say she's in love, you say not?"

"Yeah. So fifty pounds then?"

"Sounds fair to me."

They shook hands on it. And Lucy came in, wearing a very pretty mint green dress with a white gauzy set of sleeves. It was embroidered with thin silver thread and small pearls and tiny gem stones encrusted the bodice.

"Shouldn't you boys be downstairs? You better hurry before Susan comes to find you."

As Lucy watched their retreating backs she pulled out her staff and decided to make it look better so she set it horizontally in the air and let it hover there.

As she ran her hands over it the colour changed to white and she focussed on the top, where a sort of smooth twisted oval cage was forming and before she sealed it shut she added a clear crystal. (Think Gandalf the White's staff in Lord of the Rings 2 and 3)

When she emerged and went down to the hall to check up on the arrangements, she noticed that Susan was still in her room. She really was taking a long time to get ready. Maybe she should go check on her.

Pausing outside Susan's room she thought she heard voices. Pushing open the door, however, she found just Susan on her own, her brow furrowed as she examined her collection of jewellery. Clearly she couldn't choose which pieces to wear.

Sighing Lucy crossed the room to help her.


	9. Susan's Secret

Before the banquet got started they were presented with the vast array of suitors. Edmund and Peter glared at them all and Lucy looked thoroughly bored. Susan however smiled at each one prettily and when a certain one approached her face lit up and she gave him an even prettier smile. Edmund and Peter exchanged looks. Edmund's was triumphant; Peter's surprised.

Edmund caught Lucy's gaze and nodded. The crystal in her staff glowed for a moment and the suitor was walking like a penguin as he retreated.

Edmund had to fight to keep his face straight as he saw this.

When everyone was assembled in the hall for the banquet and standing at their places waiting for the High Kings and Queens to enter and take their places, the four serenely strolled in and took their places at the head of the table. Only when they had sat down could the others sit as well.

Their majesties sat down and the others went to follow suit…except all of the suitors fell onto the floor because their chairs had been pulled out from under them. The siblings laughed into their napkins and Susan, still chuckling, motioned for the fawns to start serving.

"Lu," Edmund hissed at her halfway through the meal. "Can you clear the room a little? We don't want to have to entertain them all night."

Lucy grinned at him and nodded. One by one the goblets of wine before the suitors toppled over and spilt on their rich clothes. Cries of horror came from the mouths of said suitors. It had the desired effect though and several of them were rising and bowing to the royals before rushing out of the hall.

One was proving resilient however. Lucy noticed that Susan had kept her eye on him all through the meal. This explained the lengthy preparations and her peculiar behaviour.

"What's his name then?" she asked Susan.

"Cornelius Featherstone. Son of a wealthy merchant. He's quite a charmer." Susan avoided Lucy's demanding gaze. Instead she kept sneaking glances at this Cornelius Featherstone.

"I'll bet. Why hasn't he left then?" Lucy trailed off as she worked out why Susan was being odd.

Slowly anger began to bubble up inside her. The stone in her staff began to pulse several different colours before settling on blood red. Edmund noticed this and his eyes widened.

"Peter! Help me get her out! She's gonna blow the ceiling off!" he hissed.

"Get her up to her room. I'll get everyone out and join you in a minute."

Edmund grabbed the staff and then Lucy's hand and dragged her out of the hall.

"Edmund, got off me! I'm gonna kill him!"

"No, Lucy. You are not committing murder here. Come on!"

Edmund locked the door of her bedroom and deposited Lucy and staff on the bed.

"Susan's in love!" she burst out.

"Excuse me?"

"The guy…Cornelius something…she's in love with him! That's what's wrong with her! She's in love!"

"What shall we do about it?" Edmund stared at Lucy.

"We need Peter."

"He said he was coming up once he'd seen off the guests. Well, at least I win the bet."

"Focus Edmund!"

"Sorry. Well, I don't think there is anything we can do about it. She'll marry him and maybe we can persuade her to live here."

"She is not marrying him! I'm not losing her to some merchant's son!"

Edmund rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long night.


End file.
